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Posted by
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October 19, 2015 |
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Aaron Nielsen
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For those who don’t follow the Canadian national program closely, the U23 side were just eliminated from the Olympic game tournament last week, losing to the United States in the 3rd/4th place match. Canada were defeated 2-0 on an own goal, a late penalty, and in typical CONCACAF fashion played the second half with 10 man after Mexican referee red carded Guiliano Frano for descent after forgetting he already booked Frano earlier. Canada finishing 4th is not a surprise, as prior to the tournament my prediction would have been that Canada would be in a 50/50 game against Honduras to keep their Olympic hopes dream alive, but after Honduras won the semi-final game Canada had to play the United States a second time.
Prior to the tournament I felt the U.S. were beatable, and they still have an upward climb with a game against Colombia to make the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. The main reason for my pre-tournament assessment was the team the US brought was a collection of players with some talent, but it was difficult for me to see this team gelling. Partly because they brought in players from Europe, Mexico, MLS, USL, and NCAA, and also had a player Will Packwood who currently has no club team. Prior to the tournament most Americans would disagree with me, as Euro/Americans such as Gedion Zelalem and Jerome Kiesewetter are all the rage now in the U.S., although if you look at their track record, to me they might be talented but are less accomplished than many more proven MLS or even NCAA college players in the same age range.
This new American philosophy has been brought in by national team coach Jurgan Klinsmann, who has said he doesn't feel MLS or the quality of play in the league is good enough for World Class players. So instead, he has gone out of his way to invite players with some American connections in Europe and elsewhere to join the National Team. The result has been basically what one would expect from na American National Team: a CONCACAF powerhouse, although being beaten in many tournaments by Mexico and competitive in international football, although no one would regard them as a World Cup contender. In hindsight, if Bob Bradley or Bruce Arena remained as the US National Team coach and used only MLS players, they would be in the exact same position now as they are under the Kinsmann’s reign, yet not have the conflict of US National Team versus MLS that exists now.
It could be said Canada has a similar issue with their Spanish coach Benito Floro. We haven't gone the route of searching Europe for players with Canadian heritage yet, but we have established a new style of play that Floro has tapped into from his many years working in Spain. The 4-5-1 system has basically been Floro’s only system of play no matter the available talent or opponent. This play has had some benefit in the Olympic Qualifying tournament where a good defensive structure meant the games with the U.S. and Mexico were close.
However, Canada never looked as if they were going to get anything from those games and the system has also led to disappointing ties with Cuba in the Olympic Qualifying tournament and against Belize for the senior team in World Cup Qualification. Despite the addition of some talent for the World Cup qualifiers, my prediction is Canada will play all games against Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico being happy with draws when they can get them, and if I had to put money on where they finish I would say third, meaning elimination from another major tournament.
A perspective I try to take when looking at the above hiring is asking what if I was involved with England, Italy, Poland or Denmark, how would I perceive these appointments? I'm not denying that Klinsmann and Floro bring a football knowledge, although at the same time I don't think either are so influential that it will completely change the outcomes of the countries they are in charge of. Arguably both have been given complete control, so the question remains when they leave their position, have they made the situation better from when they came in? My opinion, in the case of Klinsmann, is he is a product of the US Soccer hype machine in trying to make the US National Team seem more important than it is, where at the end of the day the success of the team will be based on the quality of the players.
For Canada, we have yet to have a soccer development revolution the U.S. has experienced over the past decade. We do lack tactical awareness and other aspects of the game that will make us successful, although this teaching should not be brought into the men’s, and for that matter women’s, senior teams. It should be administered and taught at the grass roots levels so players understand tactics, which will then give the senior team management more freedom to adapt to their opponents or take advantage of their own skills.
What I find frustrating in the U.S. and Canadian soccer is our admiration for traditional footballing countries and how they will provide a quick fix to make everything right with our failures in the game. This is shown publicly by high profile appointments, but also in other aspects of the game including most MLS commentary or our soccer pundits in North America come with a British accent. This is also seen behind the scenes, where MLS clubs bring in outsiders to manage their clubs, yet the most successful teams are run by American soccer interests or in the case of Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact, Canadian.
This segues into Toronto FC and their recent love affair with American front office people, including new president Bill Manning. Manning, like recent Toronto FC hiring of Kevin Payne, Tim Bezbatchenko and Greg Vanney, comes out of MLS head office rolodex and American soccer system. Like Payne, there are some past accomplishments I like about Manning. Real Salt Lake have been a consistent competitor in MLS, while their academy team RSL-Arizona has been one of the most exciting clubs in youth development over the past few years. However, in a local Toronto interview with Manning my concerns about him were realized when he admitted only being to Toronto three times prior in his life and when asked if he understands Toronto he said he was a big New York Rangers fan growing up.
Yes, Toronto FC are a playoff team this year, but none of MLSE’s hirings has delivered as they were sold. Payne gave himself credit for identifying talent, as DC United had a history of developing players which he did not do in Toronto. Bezbatchenko worked in MLS head office regarding contracts and his knowledge was supposed to bring TFC experienced MLS players at good value, yet Toronto are the highest spending team and probably have the worst core of MLS-developed players in the league. Vanney is a tactical coach who was also a teacher, and yes there has been improvements this season to Jonathan Osorio and Marco Delgado, but in many games Vanney has looked out of his depth and 33 games into the season still does not appear to be aware of his best starting eleven or where they should play on the pitch.
What Manning will likely do is copy the things he's done in Real Salt Lake, although an important question is how much impact did he have on RSL’s past success? We know he had little influence on the main reason for RSL’s success, which was the play of core players Nick Ramando, Kyle Beckerman and Javier Morales, all of whom were with RSL before Manning was hired. Beyond that, Real Salt Lake are also a club, as I predicted before the season, who are most likely going to miss the playoffs and a club I feel is on a downward slide. Added, their "B" team this season, Real Monarchs, finished in last place in the USL Western Conference and were only slightly better overall then TFC II.
We then look at the RSL-Arizona Academy who, like Toronto FC, RSL has put money into this aspect of the game and maybe Manning had an influence on this. However, the main reason for their success is the Academy director Martin Vasquez. Vasquez, a Mexican-born American who played both for the U.S. and Mexico Senior National team was an assistant coach at LA Galaxy and Bayern Munchen, head coach at Chivas USA, and was brought into RSL-Arizona in 2011. It also wouldn't be a surprise the main reason why RSL-Arizona has been so successful is their ability to bring in quality American/Mexican players and this is one of the reasons why the team is based in Arizona and not Utah.
The truth is I do not have confidence that Manning is going to make anything regarding Toronto FC better. He also has no history with the city and no experience with the other Toronto FC key employees, working or dealing with the game in Canada. Added to the list is that he will be charge of the uncomfortable Argos/TFC relationship, another sport he has no knowledge of, so there is a chance for disaster. Finally, let us not forget we are also talking about a soccer club who without Sebastian Giovinco would probably be amongst the worst teams in the league.
My greater fear is not this blowing up in MLSE’s face, resulting in a whole new cast of characters in a season or two. My worry is Toronto FC will continue to throw money at their problems, be a playoff contending team and create a facade that everything is all right. Meanwhile, in the background talented Toronto-based players won’t get an opportunity or be put into situations like what happened to them with TFC II this season. Instead of developing something truly progressive like Martin Vasquez has done with RSL-Arizona, we continue along as is, missing out on excellence and maintain the status quo.
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Aaron Neilsen is a co-founder of Prospect XI (Prospect Eleven), a scouting network and online magazine dedicated to tracking/highlighting young players that refer to as "prospects" as well as their development pathways both within North America and worldwide. Follow PXI via www.prospectxi.com or on twitter @ProspectXI.
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